My son and I saw an early screening of Marvel’s The Avengers last Monday. The film is about a band of superheroes, The Avengers, and their mission to stop Loki from conquering Earth. My son and I loved it, and think the movie is awesome. Joss Whedon, the director, does an expert job combing action, drama, and comedy into the Marvel world of superheroes, villains, S.H.I.E.L.D., Helicarrier, and cosmic cube. Marvel’s The Avengers [Facebook | Twitter] opens in theaters today. Below is a quick summary of the film. Continue reading for the full movie review of The Avengers.

The 411 for Marvel’s The Avengers

The story

Nick Fury and the Avengers try to save the world from Loki

Appropriateness for children

No sexual content or bad language that I can recall, but there is a lot of pummeling and intense scenes

Avengers assemble!
You don’t really need to watch the Thor, Captain America, Hulk or Iron Man movies to follow the story in the Avengers movie. This is what you need to know. Loki, Thor’s brother, steals the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. The Tesseract is the cosmic cube that the Red Skull tried to use to power his evil quest in the Captain America movie. Loki essentially wants to use the Tesseract to make himself the supreme ruler of Earth. The rest of the movie is about the Avengers trying to get the magic cube back before Loki does something really bad with it.

Too many Avengers?
There are a lot of characters in this movie. That was actually one of my concerns about a movie like this. Are there too many main characters? Will so many characters make the story hard to follow? Will the movie be choppy as it cuts from one character to the next? Thankfully, this is not the case with the movie. The story flowed smoothly and I didn’t feel like I was popping in and out of characters’ scenes. Joss Whedon, the director, does a great job seamlessly blending all the characters and story elements into a fabulous movie.

Hulk smashes his way into the Avengers
Prior to seeing the movie, one of my favorite superheroes is the Hulk. After watching the film, I’m an even bigger fan. I think a lot of other people will become Hulk fans too after they see The Avengers. The Hulk is still a raging monster in this movie, but it’s really hard not to like him.

Black Widow struts
Compared to comic book character, Black Widow was a shadow of herself in the Iron Man 2 movie. Fortunately, Black Widow isn’t just eye candy in The Avengers. In this movie, she actually gets to strut her stuff and show why she’s such a great agent. She can interrogate with the best of them, and kick ass while still looking sexy.

Captain America bought his costume at Target
Steve Rogers has a new Captain America costume in Marvel’s The Avengers. It’s different from the war uniform he wore in the Captain America movie. The outfit looks more like the ones depicted in the comic books, but the mask looks like something you might find in a Target store. I’m not sure why, but the mask doesn’t look right to me. Maybe it’s because it looks more like a helmet than a mask. See for yourself:

Tom Hiddleston is an excellent Loki
Marvel’s The Avengers features an all-star cast, but Tom Hiddleston was the one who really stood out. Hiddleston played the part of the evil Loki, and his performance is excellent. The four main Avengers were played by Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / The Hulk), and Chris Hemsworth (Thor). Rounding up the Avengers team are Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow) and Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye). Members of Shield include Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill), and Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson). The Avengers also feature Stellan Skarsgård (Selvig from the Thor movie) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts from the Ironman movies). The film was directed by Joss Whedon (also one of the writers).

Stan Lee makes another cameo
Big surprise, Stan Lee (creator of many Marvel characters) makes an appearance in The Avengers. Part of the fun of watching a Marvel movie is looking for Stan. In this film, he doesn’t make his cameo until at the end of the movie.